Melbourne Yoga Centre/School for F.M. Alexander Studies
Melbourne Yoga Centre/School for F.M. Alexander Studies
31 Jan 2022
11 Dec 2023
Two years
$6,950
This course starts on Monday 31st January, 2022
Learning to be a yoga teacher takes time. It is not a process to be rushed. This is a two-year course covers 400 hours of study, allowing time for practice, learning and assimilation.
Although trainees can gain provisional membership of Yoga Australia after the first year of training our recommendation is that most trainees will not commence teaching until the end of the second year of training, when they can register as level one teachers. Within the first year of training, besides engagement in personal practice and development, we aim to give trainees an overview of the yoga tradition and to build on that understanding in the second year as we move towards deepening personal practice and teaching skills.
The yoga asana and pranayama segment of this course is informed by the Alexander technique. Both David Moore and Caroline Blackshaw are Registered Senior Teachers with Yoga Australia and qualified and experienced teachers of the Alexander Technique. As such this course offers a particularly deep level of precision and insight into asana and its role and relationship to the other limbs of yoga practice.
David’s experience of training at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandaram with TKV Desikatchar and his teachers in the 1970’s was that only the Yoga Sutras were taught in a group class, and that the traditional practice of teaching asana and pranayama practice was taught exclusively one on one.. This course will schedule short one and one work with teachers during most sessions in order to be able to touch base with the unique individual requirements and learning style of each trainee. This is consistent with current practice in Alexander technique training.
Teaching of asana classes is the major area that yoga teachers are involved in today for the majority of the time and we aim to give the tools for teachers to be able to accurately assess their students and to be able to develop a type of practice that suits each person's unique individuality.
The yoga tradition is much more expansive than the modern postural practice which is what yoga is popularly understood to be. This course will provide students with an understanding of and grounding in the historical, cultural, ethical, meditative and spiritual background and practices of yoga.
The yoga taught on this course is grounded in the teachers' experience of a number of traditions:
The course has two main teachers, but for different subject areas we may also invite outside experts to provide their input to the course.
Training during a pandemic
Over the past two years our 2020-21 training was interrupted by lockdowns and we had to modify our training format. We also established a full year online post-graduate training for Alexander and yoga teachers which provided a mixture of online recorded sessions and Zoom group classes to embed and practice the material in the recorded sessions.
We now have many hours of these recorded sessions which will be an addition to our teacher training. Should we be shut down over the course of the 2022-23 training we will revert to online sessions supported by the recorded sessions, and we will also offer one on one online 20 minute instruction to make up for that missed during the normal programming.
David Moore:
David is a senior level teacher with Yoga Australia and the author of Smart Yoga: Apply the Alexander technique to enhance your practice, prevent injury and increase body awareness.” He attended his first yoga class in 1966 and since then has had a continuing engagement with yoga, meditation, Buddhism, Alexander Technique and a wide range of somatic disciplines.
He has practiced many different approaches to Hath Yoga, with his major influences being Martin Jackson with whom he trained in Iyengar yoga in Sydney and the tradition of TKV Desikatchar who he studied with in Madras.
For the past 23 years he has been training teachers of the Alexander Technique at The School for F.M. Alexander Studies, in a three year full time training course accredited by the Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique
Caroline Blackshaw:
Caroline took her first yoga class in 1990 and was immediately hooked. Since then has been influenced by many teachers and styles, including Iyengar yoga, Satyandanda yoga, Viniyoga, Donna Fahey and most recently the Alexander Technique which focuses on finding ways to use the body with the least stress and strain.
Caroline established Yoga Hut in 2004 after completing her Diploma of Health – Yoga, with the Australian Institute of Yoga at CAE. She is a Senior Teacher with Yoga Australia and has an Advanced Diploma from the School for F. M. Alexander Studies as a teacher of Alexander Technique. Caroline combines both yoga and AT in her classes, enabling students to explore habits and patterns in their bodies, at the same time building strength and flexibility.
Caroline sees yoga as a wonderful tool to help enable practitioners to use their bodies well throughout their lives. Along with the obvious physical benefits she loves the sense of perspective and well-being yoga, Alexander Technique and meditation can provide for the regular practitioner.
Our yoga teacher training course consists of:
Program
The course will be taught from our North Fitzroy studio with a five-day residential course being held each year.
The classes will be run on Mondays from 9am to 2.30pm for 28 weeks per year with a half hour lunch break. During the time put aside for individual lessons trainees will work for 15 to 20 minutes with a teacher. This will be unstructured time for other trainees which they can spend in practice and study.
9 – 10.30 – Individual lessons
10.30 - 12 – Asana practice session. Developing your practice, observation and teaching skills
12 – 12.30 – Break
12.30 - 1.30 – Meditation, pranayama, yoga philosophy
Distance Education
As the course is primarily practical and focused on individual needs, there will not be a distance education option offered, except to those who have already completed our 2,000 hour Diploma of Yoga and Alexander Technique Teaching with David Moore who will be able to attend our afternoon 12,30 – 1.30pm sessions via Zoom. (see below for details of our Recognition of Prior Learning.)
Study Areas:
Trainees will:
Successful completion and assessments
Recognition of Prior Leaning
Students who believe that they already have the required knowledge or skills for parts of the course may apply for Recognition of Prior Learning for parts of the course. In that case they will need to supply evidence of existing competency in those areas. This will need to meet the Rules of Evidence in that the evidence will be
This evidence may be:
Applicants who have the 2,000-hour Diploma in Yoga and Alexander Technique Teaching issued by the School for F.M. Alexander Studies will be able to claim RPL for the
They will still need to:
“Without adequate understanding of the historical unfoldment of Yoga, it is hard to imagine that we could arrive at a genuine appreciation of its spiritual treasures or could practice it meaningfully with ultimate effectiveness. A study of the history of Yoga gives us a broader picture than we can glean from most of the popular literature on the subject” Georg Feuerstein. "The Yoga Tradition P.91
Self study
Besides their self practice students should aim to spend at least three hours a week during school times on prescribed reading, and the assignments based on those readings.There will be several longer assignments. Students are required to have studied the required reading prior to the relevant classes.
Written assignments
There will one written or practical assignment each quarter - a total of 4 for the 200 hour foundation course and 8 for the level 1 course
Text Books
Other resources
2022 Training Dates
Mondays 31st January to 4th April – 8 weeks (no class on Labour Day Public Holiday)
Mondays 2nd May to 13th June – 7 weeks
Mondays 12th September to 24th October
Mondays 7th November to 12th December
Residential Course: Thursday 3rd to Monday 7th March
Weekend Intensives:
2nd - 3rd April
14th – 15th May
17th – 18th September
10th – 11th December
Course Fees
$6,950 or $3,576 per year which will be payable in four annual instalments of $868.75. The fees include GST
An application fee of $500 will be deducted from the first instalment.
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